Tsuguharu Foujita, the Japanese-born painter who rose to fame in 1920s Paris, made two notable but contrasting visits to New York, first in 1930 and again in 1949. Known for his delicate lines, milky-white female nudes, and fusion of Japanese and Western styles, Foujita’s encounters with New York highlight the complexities of transnational modernism, especially in the shadow of war.
After rising to prominence in France among the École de Paris, Foujita left Europe, traveling through Latin America before arriving in New York in November 1930. There, he exhibited in Washington, D.C. and Manhattan, where critics praised his technical precision and Japanese aesthetic. However, he expressed discomfort with the materialism and pace of the city. His paintings from this time reflect a nostalgic longing for Paris, even as he explored new artistic terrain.
Following World War II, Foujita’s reputation in Japan was deeply tarnished. Though he defended himself by claiming that artists were pacifists at heart, the Japan Art Association listed him in 1946 as one of the artists responsible for the war. He was not named a war criminal by the Allied General Headquarters in 1947, but his public image suffered, particularly for using his art in service of the Imperial Japanese military. Foujita also refused to fully address the accusations against him.
In an attempt to support him, American poet Harry Roskolenko organized an exhibition at the Kennedy and Company Galleries in New York. However, none of the paintings sold. Foujita and Roskolenko blamed Japanese New York painter Yasuo Kuniyoshi, who had publicly condemned Foujita as a fascist and expansionist. Isolated in both Japan and the United States, Foujita found himself caught between cultures that once embraced him.
In March 1949, Foujita secured a U.S. visa with the help of Japanese American artist Henry Sugimoto and briefly taught at the Brooklyn Museum Art School. Yet hostility lingered. Social realist painter Ben Shahn and others protested his presence, citing his wartime actions. Feeling unwelcome, Foujita decided to leave Japan and the U.S. for good. He and his wife Kimiyo returned to France in January 1950. He later declared that he would never leave again.
Foujita’s New York episodes, one shaped by promise and the other by exile, reflect the broader dilemmas faced by artists navigating the intersections of war, memory, and modernism. From celebrated cosmopolitan to vilified propagandist, Foujita’s journey reveals the burdens of artistic legacy in times of global upheaval.
References
Birnbaum, Phyllis. Glory in a Line: A Life of Foujita—The Artist Caught Between East & West. London: Faber and Faber, 2006. https://search.worldcat.org/title/6942643.
Ikeda, Asato. “Fujita Tsuguharu Retrospective 2006: Resurrection of a Former Official War Painter.” Review of Japanese Culture and Society 21 (2009). https://carleton.ca/ponja/bibliography/fujita-tsuguharu-retrospective-2006-resurrection-of-a-former-official-war-painter/
“Tsuguharu Foujita.” Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsuguharu_Foujita.
Discover Nikkei. “Leonard Foujita, Part 2.” Discover Nikkei, January 8, 2021. https://discovernikkei.org/en/journal/2021/1/8/leonard-foujita-2/.
Brooklyn Museum. Tsuguharu Foujita (Leonard Foujita), object no. 49.265. Brooklyn, NY: Brooklyn Museum. https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/objects/49265
